What lies beneath
by Triple D aka Dark Demon
Summary: Oct. 30th, 1981 two children just under a year and half disappear from their homes during a bout of infantile accidental magic. For ten years the parents sesrched with next to no results in the wake of the children vanishing. On Oct. 30th, 1991 two children who COULD be them are seen walking away from a terror act in Spain. Is it them? Who or what is Labyrinth? HPxDG rom slowburn
1. Chapter 1

Rain crashed down on the city of Barcellona, Spain sending the surprised citizens scattering for shelter. The weather had been beautiful all day, humid but not too humid and just hot enough for shorts, so this out of nowhere rain was a shock. The crack of thunder made more than a fair few people jump as the rain intensified to a sheet of what like hail pounding in a white-out blizzard. It was a fact that made some people question why a pair of children were walking through it in black cloaks.

"Thirteen, they're staring" the figure on the right said. Judging by the slightly higher pitch the figure was a girl. Though the cloak hid most of her view, looks and clothing, a few long blonde hairs did escape contrasting the black material.

The figure identified as Thirteen snorted and reached up brushing the blonde hairs back into the hood behind their companions ear. "Don't worry about it Ducky. The cloaks make us less than memorable as soon as we're more than twenty feet away" the figure spoke, voice low but obviously masculine telling Thirteen was a boy.

The cloaked female figure scowled under her hood and shoved the hand of her away. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Ducky?!" the girl demanded with a hiss.

"About as many times I have to remind you that Thirteen isn't my name" the boy drawled shoving his hands into his pants pockets. "As long as it's just us away from the organization or in our private room I don't care if you use my name Daphne, you know that by now. I know you do. You are the one person I know that won't abuse it for any reason whatsoever." From the shadows of the boys hood bright green eyes shone with a neon luminescence.

The female figure tensed for a moment before relaxing her tense muscles. "You're right Harry." Blue eyes shone with a gentle possessiveness as a slim hand invaded a pocket and clasped his with her own. "I would never abuse it or your trust in me" she said with a soft tone of voice. Even as the street erupted into pandemonium as an explosion ripped through the ground floor of a hotel and collapsed it to a massive pile of rubble with only god knows how many dead bodies trapped in it, Daphne's gaze was on her companion whose eyes had already slipped back forward. Her lips did twitch into a tiny smile as she felt his thumb rub the back of her hand.

"I know." Harry didn't spare her a glance as people rushed past them toward the hotel to try and help any survivors though they both knew there was none to be saved. The whole building was previously rigged to disperse an aerosolized cyanide compound through the ventilation system. After a trigger was pressed the compound would flood the hotel killing everyone inside, their target included, within five minutes. After the gas dispersed they, wearing special gas masks just to be on the safe side, had gone in through a service entrance by the kitchen with enough explosives to tackle the gold reserves vault of America's famed Fort Knox and rigged it to blow. Was there an excessive civilian casualty? Yes. Would the organization be bothered by it? A little bit but the fact a wanted Nazi war criminal who escaped the Nuremberg Trials after World War II and had been heading a child prostitution ring for the last decade was dead would overshadow the loss of innocent life. "It's why you are my partner. It's why you are my friend. It's why we have a perfect record of jobs completed" he said removing their hands from his pocket and brought hers under his hood before his lips brushed her knuckles gently.

Daphne was thankful for the shadow her cloaks hood provided as her face flushed with embarrassment and pride. Harry was not the most expressive guy, not many of of either sex who worked as Spec Op operators for Labyrinth were, but he made an effort for most times when they were alone and she appreciated it immensely. Most of the times his efforts resulted in a poor joke that wasn't that funny but the rare times like this where his words and actions reflected a fondness for her made her cherish him just a little more. Being that they both grew up in Labyrinth practically since birth for reasons unknown to them they'd practically clung to each other in their younger years. When their training began their handlers noticed right away their teamwork was off the charts. Where was more stealthy and finesse, Harry was brute force and explosive charge; two halves of a functioning whole. "Don't get mushy on me in public. We got a reputation to protect" she said taking her hand back.

Emerald eyes rolled even as amusement shined in them. Bringing his hand to an unseen earpiece he tapped the receiver button. "Trapdoor for two. Job complete. Target and witnesses have been neutralized" Harry said grabbing Daphne's hand in his.

"Good job Thirteen. I hope you kept the witness casualties low."

"Low enough" Harry said dismissively.

"How low is 'low enough'?" the voice on the other end of the line asked.

"Low enough. You'll hear about it in the international papers by tomorrow I bet. Now give us a trapdoor before the authorities come down on us" Harry said with a scathing tone.

In a blink of the eye the ground opened up beneath the two children dropping them into an abyss that would return them to Labyrinth. What they would be unaware of for some time was the blue eyes that followed their path away from the hotel, before it blew up that is, and saw them disappear into the earth. They would also be woefully unaware of the flash of fire that accompanied the blue eyes owners disappearance in the panicking exodus of people.

* * *

*Labyrinth HQ, LOCATION UNKNOWN*

Harry's feet touched solid ground first. With an almost practiced ease he leaned back allowing Daphne to stumble roughly three steps into his chest so she could regain her balance. "You good Fourteen?" he asked with a wary eye noticing the Trapdoor summoner looking at them suspiciously.

Daphne scowled righting herself and shot a dark look at the guy in charge of the Trapdoor teleportation system. "Fine Thirteen. I don't like Trapdooring it everywhere unlike you" she said in her professional operator tone.

"Never said I was a fan either you know. It's the most convenient way to long distance that doesn't involve Portkeys" Harry saw Daphne's eyebrow twitch since he _knew_ she hated Portkey travel "or Apparition. Pick your poison Fourteen and no, that is not an open invitation to a knife spar. I don't need another of your laced knives stabbed into my leg paralyzing it for twelve hours" he said with a pointed look.

"You just aren't going to let that go are you? I told you it was a mistake in that spar" Daphne huffed shoving Harry forward as their cloak hoods finally fell off revealing their pale-ish forms and Harry's crow nest raven mop of hair barely dropping bangs to his eyebrows. Once they were far enough away meaning they were in their shared room since they were a team, she let out a sigh dropping back onto the shared bed. "I hate acting like that around them."

Sitting on the bed beside Daphne he pulled her head onto his lap and began to card his fingers through her hair. "I know." There wasn't more to say since he did know but what they both knew was that if anyone in the Labyrinth chain of command suspected them as more than just partners in any way… Well, the consequences were something not worth idly thinking about.

A content ghost of a smile tugged at Daphne's lips as she curled up slightly. "You know you're my best friend right?" she asked looking up at Harry with a tired gaze. It was another reason she hated Trapdoor travel, it exhausted her in a snap and made her want to sleep for a week.

"I'm your only friend dummy." Harry chuckled at the weak retaliation slap and glare as Daphne yawned. "Yeah I know and you know you're mine" he said adjusting her slightly to get her under the blanket. "You get some rest. I'll inform those on high" his eyes rolled hard at that "of the event and I'll be back." Leaning down he kissed the top of her head as she snuggled into her pillow to get comfy.

"Don't take" Daphne yawned slightly "take too long ok,? I can't sleep well without you here" she finished through a shorter yawn.

"I'll be quick as I can. Promise" Harry said tucking the blanket under her chin.

Daphne nodded, eyes half lidded and nuzzled at Harry's hands for a moment before blue orbs closed fully.

As soon as Daphne's breathing was even and the blanket began to rise & fall with her chest Harry left their room. Locking it with a very specific set of keys he withdrew from his left pocket, he was one of the more paranoid organization members, he tested the locks to satisfaction before heading to the debriefing office. As he expected he got reamed by his handler for how he did the kill and loss of innocent life, he always took the blame so no reprimand fell on his friend, and as per usual for an instance like this his cut of the contract payoff was added into Daphne's she'd receive in the morning as a sort of punishment. He didn't care since she'd deduct his half and write him a check for 'Services Rendered' after the full amount cleared in her account.

"Thirteen, I have to ask this like I do everytime but why do you shield her so much? Partners are replac-"

Harry glared menacingly at the woman causing her to flinch back. "One, it was my idea to begin with blowing the hotel up so it left no evidence of tampering. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if the Barcellona officials blame it on major gas line leaking and being ignited by the hotels kitchen so naturally I'm going to take the credit and or blame as necessary. Two, she is _my partner_. She has my back one hundred percent as I have hers. Don't you _ever_" unknown to him his pupils shrank to malefic serpertine slits "think of doing anything to change that or I swear by Ishfala you will not live to see another dawn. She is the scalpel, I am the sledge hammer. Neither works efficiently without the other" he hissed in a dark tone as his clenched fist banged on the metal table denting it and leaving an imprint of his hand.

The woman shuddered unable to speak as the young boy left with a black aura surrounding him. She had no doubts about him being able to make good on his threat after killing the last four him and Fourteen had for trying to break the team up. The scary part about it was that when the bodies were found it read like a suicide from the manner of death, ingestion of a poison to hanging or slashed vitals like wrists or throat knicking the aorta, down to the note in the persons own writing saying they couldn't live with themselves anymore. Calling it, the lengths Thirteen waa willing to go to keep him and Fourteen as a team that is, frightening was being mild to say the least.

Returning to their room Harry swiftly undid the locks and entered dropping his cloak on the coat rack. Redoing them for the night he walked back to the bed, depositing the key ring on the table in passing, he climbed and felt Daphne come up to him curling into his chest. "Rest easy Ducky, I'm here" he whispered softly after kissing the top of her head and wrapping her in his embrace.

Daphne, for her part, merely sighed content feeling the familiar embrace hold her sleeping form close. Within her dream they lived a far simpler life, a life free of killing because Labyrinth was working towards a facade of world peace, and they were happy _together_. "My… Raven" she said in a soft voice at the same time her dream-self spoke to Harry, her head unconsciously burrowing into Harry's chest like it was her favorite pillow.

Harry's eyes softened immensely running a hand through her blonde locks. "Your raven is right here Ducky, just sleep and dream." He kissed the top of Daphne's head again before he pulled her a little closer until he felt one of her arms fall across his waist and clench his shirt like she was going to make sure he didn't leave again. A silent chuckle escaped his lips as he let his head rest on the pillow with his eyes closed. In moments he was out and the only sound in the room was the two kids peaceful breathing as they held each other close.

* * *

*UNKNOWN LOCATION*

Albus Dumbledore was many things but as he stared at the two sets of parents he felt like the bearer of bad news. Opposite of his desk to the left was James and Lily Potter, on the right was Cyrus and Hellen Greengrass. Both couples had lost their first born children, Harry James Potter and Daphne Celine Greengrass, to a particularly powerful burst of infantile accidental magic that acted in a way similar to Apparition ten years ago this day- October thirtieth, nineteen eighty one. No method either couple had tried could find the children prematurely aging the men to having greys already and the two women to having near constant worry lines etched into the skin near the edges of their lips.

"Why did you call us here Albus? The goblins were informing us of a new ritu that would-"

"I believe I saw them earlier" Albus said motioning Cyrus to be silent.

All four adults looked dubious at that. "And you expect us...to believe you? You won't tell us anything about the prophecy Harry might've been part of if he hadn't disappeared with his accidental magic outburst and you want us to believe you?" Lily asked with a hard scoff. "I'm more likely to believe the traitor you're harboring as a spy loves me."

Hellen glanced to her redheaded friend and reached over squeezing her knee. "I'm not his fan either but let's not be so quick to dismiss Lily. The four of us have pooled resources for a decade with nothing to show. Maybe if he actually saw them we can narrow our search field" the brunette witch said with a kind tone. She knew that neither Potter or her husband favored Dumbledore for their own reasons but someone had to be the peacemaker.

"Where did you see them?" Cyrus asked though the undertone said it was a demand.

"Barcellona, Spain. I was leaving a meeting with Spanish Minister of Magic and saw two cloaked figures walking down the street with hoods drawn as a torrential rain was falling. I didn't see their faces but they called each other Harry and Daphne. In addition I saw their eyes for a moment and they were the same shades of emerald and sapphire as you two." Dumbledore pointed at Hellen and Lily.

"That means nothing. Harry and Daphne are common global names for kids. All you've done is waste time we could have been preparing the goblin ritual!" James snapped irritably. "Lils, Hellen, Cyrus lets go before he tells us he saw my dead aunt Elanor in the bottom his firewhiskey bottle too."

Lily stood with her husband and took his hand squeezing it.

Both couples left through the making the ancient wizard sigh. Albus knew neither couple had reason to trust him, he refused to tell the Potter's of the prophecy for fear of what may come to pass and the Greengrass family were staunch neutrals who disagreed with ideology & stonewalled the Wizengamot when he introduced leniency bills on criminals to reform themselves, but he was _**certain**_ the two cloaked children had to be the missing Potter and Greengrass Heirs.

"The Dark Lord masquerading as the Lord of Light finds himself unable to control his pawns."

Albus' head spun every which way to find the source of the cackling voice but found nothing. "Reveal yourself!" he ordered drawing his wand.

"In time Albus but first.."

Albus went down as a black spell tinged with red hit him on the back of the head sending him face first onto the desk. The crack of bone breaking, Dumbledore's crooked nose specifically, accompanied the old man being knocked unconscious.

"I'll be taking back Master's wand and cloak." From the shadows a slim female figure appeared. Dressed in light and breathable combat armor she was an intimidating sight with the long daggers on her hips and sword across her back. Walking to the unconscious wizard she took the wand from his hand and summoned a box containing a liquid like silk cloak. "Tsk tsk, this will not do." The female shook her head making shoulder length silver hair bounce while waving the wand over the cloak dispelling all the charms it as she seemed to melt into the air. "Master is no ones pawn old man" sh said, her voice fading like a whisper as blood red eyes glared at ominously.


	2. First contact

July thirty first rolled around as Albus Dumbledore anxiously stood over the shoulder of his Deputy Headmistress reading over the last minute letters from prospective First Years. He knew in the pile the acceptance letter from Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass must be there! They were listed in the Student Registry Book still so they were certainly alive!

"Albus, this the last letter to be opened. If it isn't from them.. Maybe it's time to give up" Minerva said with a sigh. While she did not want to give up hope either young magic user could be found, she was a realist where Albus lived in an idealistic fantasy of pacifism and second chances could save the world. It could not, would not, since the perfect example was the murder of Alice and Frank Longbottom when Voldemort somehow breached the fidelius charm. How young Neville, the declared Boy Who Lived by Albus himself, survived the Killing Curse, somehow with only a vine-like scar on his cheek as proof baffled the magical community at large. No one, no thing, had ever survived the fatal curse before young Neville somehow did. It gave the boy an obnoxious attitude splashed across the pages of The Daily Prophet despite his overbearing grandmother, Dowager Augusta Longbottom, trying to rein in her grandsons sense of grandiose entitlement. Shaking herself mentally from such irrelevant thoughts she recentered herself.

"They have to of at least responded to the letter Minerva. It could give us a clue where they are. No one is able to ignore the Hogwarts letter" Albus argued. There was no address on the letter that went to Harry or Daphne, it was listed as Unknown Location, Hidden Place, and the return address on this letter was a post office box in Laos, Vietnam. What would someone who gets a Hogwarts letter be doing that far into The Oriental territories?

The two different sets of handwriting were very clear as soon as the letter was opened by Minerva. One was clearly a graceful and fluid feminine cursive script while the other was a rougher more masculine rough scrawl.

_Dear Headmaster Dipstick,_

_We reject your reality and supplement our own in its stead. We know of the existence of magic and what we are but are much more content to learn magic our way at our pace. Your pathetic institution is centuries out of touch with modern magical theory compared to places like the America's, The Orient or Europe proper just to rattle off a few places I can think of off the top my head. I will NOT endanger my best friend by us attending school in a country where the Emo Prince Voldemort still resides as a wraith. Piss off, die in a grave you dug for yourself and leave us alone._

**Harry be nice! Thanks but no thanks, we have both the funds and means to learn the magic we want and or need to learn. Don't bother tracing this adress either. The second this letter is deposited on your bird we will be gone and the post office box will never be used again. Not by us anyways. We are happy-ish with the way our life is going right now. Try to find us or force us to attend your backwater facility & we will have no problem killing you dead and burning your corpse to ash. This is the only warning we will give anyone who works for your school, for you personally OR with you.**

**Darkest regards,**

_Harry_ & **Daphne**

Minerva was pale as a ghost at the violent threat at the end. There was no way a child of any kind was capable of murder!..was there? There was a confidence in both writings so they had to confident in themselves to be able to do so or so they thought.

Albus frowned darkly snatching the letter. He could sense no magical trace on the letter itself. It was written with muggle ink suggesting a pen instead of ink so there goes narrowing down where the store they got supplies from. The response was written on muggle lined paper in a muggle envelope. The only magic on the letter itself was an animated on the envelope was a crudely drawn hand giving the middle finger. "They won't be happy about this" he said gravely to himself disappearing to his office with the response despite Minerva's protest.

* * *

*SOMEWHERE IN GREECE*

Harry, currently appearing as a twenty something young man thanks to an aging potion, sneezed while on surveillance in a bar. His and Daphne's latest target was the just turned twenty one year old son of the Russian ambassador currently in Greece for talks about disarming their nuclear arsenals. While their orders were to currently just surveil and observe, he was beginning to get antsy. Crowds were not his things and the shot of tequila he ordered to fit in amongst the revelers sat untouched drawing suspicious looks from one of the two on duty bartenders.

"Darling, you are far too tense. We just got engaged, we came out tonight to celebrate not brood!"

Harry looked over as Daphne, similarly looking twenty something due to an aging potion of her own, slapped his arm. This was not part of their cover as part of the crowd but he was flexible. He threw back the shot, the alcohol actually being vanished as soon as it touched his lips but appearing to be drank, getting the bartender off his back.

"You two just got engaged? Congratulations" the bartender, a young woman, said giving Daphne a weird look. "Not to be judgy but your fianceé seems to be a bit of a stick in the mud."

Daphne laughed and rolled her eyes a little. "He can be sometimes. He doesn't really like crowded places like bars or clubs but with him proposing to me earlier I wanted to go out to celebrate. You know how it is to want to show off your significant other. I mean, he's just.. Damn public decency laws." She smirked as the bartender nodded in understanding.

"I get it. I mean, I show off my girlfriend a lot since she's smoking hot but your guy seems uncomfortable in his own skin."

Daphne laid a hand on Harry's arm which seemed to relax him some. "He's trying and that's what matters to me. He's usually a more quiet lounge type of guy that has booths for privacy as desired and a house band, jazz preferred but blues is a close second" she said with a gentle squeeze to the flesh under her hand. Once the young woman left to attend a group of girls she pinched Harry hard. "You seriously need to stop looking so tense!" she hissed softly in his ear.

"I hate crowded places and you know that better than anyone!" Harry hissed back.

"I know you do but we have to keep an eye on… Damn it he's gone!" Daphne's eyes narrowed in aggravation as she couldn't visually find their target. "Let's go back to the hotel for the night. The tracer spell will make it easy to find him tomorrow."

"Leaving so soon?"

Harry saw the female bartender return with a tray of dirty margarita glasses on a servers tray to be washed. "Afraid so. As much as I love this socialite of mine, if we stay any longer I'll break out in a nervous rash and ruin the evening celebration for my beautiful angel" he said wrapping an arm around Daphne as they stood from the barstools.

The young woman couldn't help the slight 'aw' that escaped her lips seeing the blonde woman snuggle into her raven haired husband-to-be. "Don't worry about the shot, it's on me. Congratulations again, its clear to see how much he loves you" she said snatching the glass away to be cleaned.

"It goes both ways. We'd be lost without each other. He's not just the man I love but my best friend in the whole world" Daphne said looking up with an affectionate glow in her eyes at Harry. Just for the effect of playing up the 'engagement', and maybe the small part that pictured such vivid dreams of them away from Labyrinth living a happy life together, she leaned up kissing Harry softly. It was all rather chaste but it got the point across.

Harry picked up on why Daphne was acting so lovesick to kiss him, playing up on their new 'engagement', and chastely returned the kiss. As much as it was for show he felt a spark shoot down his spine. Dismissing the thought, and feeling, for now he pulled back from Daphne as the bartender looked to be containing a squeal making him arch a brow at the woman.

"Sorry, it's so rare to see a pure and gentle kind of love like it seems you two share" the young woman said having the decency to look embarrassed. "It's almost fairytale-esque and old fashioned."

"It's only one of the things I fell in love with. In every sense of the word my Harrison is a modern man except when it comes to romance. He's an old soul when it comes to that department. Before he asked me out the first time he asked my father for permission and even asked my dad for permission to court me like I was his princess when we became serious enough & marriage became a serious option" Daphne said laughing softly as the bartender, not to mention a few single ladies around them, actually let out a girly squeal.

When they finally did get back in their hotel room, not a moment too soon as the potion effects faded as soon as the door closed behind them and their bodies began to shrink, Hary shot Daphne a look. "Did you have to embellish that much?" he asked working out a muscle kink in his shoulder after he stopped changing.

Daphne threw herself on their large bed rolling her eyes. "All I embellished is that we are engaged. Besides, it isn't like I embellished that you are old soul romantic. Look at how you treat me" she said throwing her arms across the mattress in either direction for effect

Harry shook his head as he sat on the bed. "Daphne, you are different from anyone I will ever know in this lifetime. You know that better than anything. I will take a bullet for you as much as I know you will do the same for me. You are my peace of mind, my piece of salvation in the wasteland of sin we carve with every job we complete" he said with a soft sigh absently taking one of her hands onto his lap. For a few moments his fingers traced the lines of her palm before a nail followed the veins that stood out against the skin of her inner forearm.

Daphne shivered rolling close to Harry. "I'm sorry for improvising all that back there" she said quietly as her head replaced the hand on his lap. The gentleness of his fingers made her almost purr happily as she pushed her head up into the firm but gentle caress carding through her hair. "I didn't want us to get blown since our target was looking our way suspiciously and the bartender was giving you equally suspicious looks for not taking your drink. It's already a pain under the organizational scrutiny, the last thing we need is the public scrutiny on assignment from civilians. If I could find a way for us to do all of our assignments unseen you know I would but nine times out of ten we both know that isn't going to happen. I mean come on, remember Barcelona? Damn nazi was paranoid to not leave the hotel we had to do it the way we did."

Harry snorted and rolled his eyes laying back on the bed. "I get it, I get it. Just don't get so over the top from now on ok?" he asked.

Daphne pouted and sat up crossing her arms across her chest. "And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked with a pointed look.

"Daphne, as you said, time and again, we are each other's best friend. I will move heaven and earth to know you're happy and nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, breaks us apart as a team. But let's be realistic here, we are eleven. We work as 'Cleaners' for a questionably dubious organization that claims to be working for the betterment of humanity as a whole. Puberty is probably a year or so away for us, more likely you than I." Harry paused closing his eyes. "I will never lie to you or intentionally do anything to ever hurt you in any form. I murdered the last four handlers that tried to break us into separate entities instead of our unbeatable team. I got away with it and if I have to kill more of them that attempt the same foolish action I will Daphne" he said with an emphatic tone.

"Harry.."

"All I'm trying to say Daphne is that I don't want to… overstep. In the course of our field operations how many civilian couples have we seen be torn apart because they pushed the boundaries of their relationship? How many couples who were romantic partners and best friends ceased to be over a misunderstanding? We make each other happy and I relish that, sincerely and truly I do. If something happens down the line, it'll happen. But I will not risk the relationship I have with you for any reason. I won't potentially destroy my relationship with my best friend and the only person I trust my life to."

Daphne's eyes softened as she scooted closer to Harry and dropped her hands pulling his head onto her lap. It was sweet of him to care that much to take so much caution. To show that level of care for her even though he always did.

Little to nothing else was said that night.

* * *

*HOGWARTS, HEADMASTER'S OFFICE*

Cyrus and Hellen Greengresa grimaced as they read over the short letter. They had dismissed Albus last time but this… This couldn't be ignored or written off.

"What do you propose we do Headmaster?" Hellen asked with a bland diplomatic tone as she handed the letter to James and Lily. "As much as I'm sure James will have his doubts, that is far too elaborate for you to come up with on your considering distaste for The Orient and their brazen use of 'Dark Heretical' magic as you have said on more than one occasion."

Dumbledore scowled at having his words thrown in his face. "There is only one option" he said.

"The goblins at Gringotts" Lily said folding the letter in thirds, her emeralds eyes muting to a much dimmer color, while James clenched his fists at his side.


	3. Attacks, a tournament and hangmans noose

Four years. Four years of effort drained into nothing. Four years of making the Goblin Nation the globe ovef utterly despise the names of Potter, Greengrass and Dumbledore. Four years of mangled and twisted corpses, if a corpse was ever found period, in the aftermath of attempts to pin down & retrieve thr missing scions.

"Daphne love, what attempt does this make?" Harry asked as he ducked under a goblin blade. This group was certainly bigger than the last one and certainly much angrier. Had someone of the last group been particularly important?

"I stopped keeping track after fifty Harry." Daphne flicked het wrist conjuring a shield and blocking an arrow from skewering her shoulder. "Does it matter? Dumbledore and his cronies are getting desparste if they're dishing out the big bucks for a Siege Battslion to try and capture us" she said blasting the shield into the goblin archers face with deadly force breaking its nose & sending the bone shards into the brain killing it.

"Not particularly, no. I stopped counting at three dozen." A rune on Harry's palm glowed black and red before he slashed at the nearest goblin, his nails and fingers elongating into unnatural monstrous claws. A sadistic smirk tried to fight its way onto his lips as the shield and armor crumpled like a wet bag, the path of his swiped claws cleaving gaping wounds in the goblin. Momentarily the world slowed before a geyser of blood gushed out mixed with bone shards, grey matter and bits of internal organs. "I was only curious if you knew. Keeping track of how many times a particular nuisance has tried to kill or capture us is usually your hobby" he sakd kicking the corpse off his clawed hand and deactivated the rune for another that ignited his hands in a ghostly white flame.

"To be perfectly blunt Harry" Daphne booted what appeared to a commander goblin in the face and stole his spear before stabbing him through the eye "I stopped counting after they tried sending that shape shifter hussy to plead us to listen to them." Hearing the whizzing of an arrow she tried to dodge but was a second too slow as the arrow head buried into her leg. Swearing viciously she broke the shaft and yanked out the remainder as the healing rune branded into her skin activated stitching muscle and flesh back together.

"You mean the one that said she was supposed to be cousin or something?" Harry asked between hisses as two throwing knives pierced his armored jacket and broke through skin.

"Yeah, the bimbo who couldn't take three steps without using the mutt to steady herself. I mean really, it was just sad that the idiot doesn't realize her center of gravity issue is more psychosomatic than physiomagical" Daphne snorted as a flourish of her fingers and burst of concentrated magic blew up the ground in the midle of a charging four goblin squad aiming a rather vicious but, not quite, looking pike weapon at her form. The scattering of separated limbs and cries of death wails brought a bloodthirsty smirk to her lips. "One of the most useful abilities in all of magic and the feckless idiot uses her talent to appease an old goat fucker like Dumbledore. It's incredibly sad to say the least."

"I guess it's a good thing I took a fairly large blood sample then while I was beating the crap out of her" Harry said ripping the knives out and banished them back to their owner, one finding a home in his throat and the other in his heart. "I was going to surprise you with it for your birthday. I know you love to experiment after all and the organization has given us a lot of leeway with your latest breakthrough in the cloning project."

Daphne brought the spear into a hanging block that protected her from a saber style sword but broke shaft in two. With twitchy eyebrow she seemed to speed up momentarily to the point she vanished from sight. As fas a blink she was behind the goblin holding his sword, the two halves of spear displaying the goblin corpse reminiscent of Vlad Tepes was said to display his conquered enemies. "Enouugh! You goblins will lay down your arms and surrender or the rest of you will die a slow tortorous death!" she barked with a sinister heart stopping sneer.

The remainder commander snarled raising his sword. "To hell with the orders of bringing them back alive, kill them and avenge our brothers!" he ordered.

Harry took the moment to get back-to-back with Daphne. "Counting their commander they have at most twenty guys left. If you can buy me thirty seconds I can end it in one go" he said watching the remaining goblins charge.

"Fine but you're going to show me how large of a blood sample you got off of the shape shifter after this is over" Daphne said before breaking off toward the goblins. "Hey midgets! I need a new foot stool to rest my feet on!"

Harry cursed his girlfriend mentally for the chldish taunt but began the invokation. "He who mastered Death and Darkness guide my blade. She who Rules the Night and Damnation bless my fury. He who is Master of Souls eviscerate their flesh and accept this offering of doomed spirits!"

As soon as Daphne heard the last part she used a goblin head like a springboard and launched herslef in a backflip vertically over a sickly green blade of magic. As the flesh decomposed rapidly before her eyes she landed in a cat-like crouch. "I'm still not a fan of the invokations. Circes I can understand paying homage to since she is the goddess of magic but the others I can't get" she said while standing slowly.

"Thanatos and Hades are part of the pantheon of death and the underworld. They are beings who hold court and deal with the judgement of the soul, at least that's whst the ancient Greek believed. Nyx on the other hand is more benevolent in her accepted lore as a mother or caretaker to the Primordial beings like Eros when the universe began" Harry said shaking his hands off of the residual energy now that he and Daphne were the only living things in the field. "But every being has a dark side and if you were to search the tablets and ancient records Nyx was a force of malevolent energy when pushed to hard."

Daphne nodded slowly since she wasn't particularly interested in the subject like Harry was. Invokation magic like the bit he just used required a lot of knowledge about the forces you were trying to summon forth and this often required knowledges of gods or goddesses of different pantheons depending on the desired effect. In laymans terms, it was too flashy for her style. While she was still the scapel of the team and suited for surgical-like precision in her attacks to end combst scenarios as fast as possible, she had gotten comfortable incorporating melee and bladed combat as necessary to compliment her arsenal of guns & spell repertoire. Harry on the other, bless her boyfriends patience, excelled at it ina scary way. If he couldn't beat something to a pulp with his bare hands or blow it to pieces, either by explosves or coventional magic did not matter to him, he resorted to an invokation to do the job. Not only would it destroy the target completely but almost always destroyed a good portion of the area surrounding the target giving them a cover.

"You don't really care about the details so lets go." Harry offered Daphne an arm and began walking a moment later after both of hers circled his. "The blood sample I got you was sizable but not enough where you could afford a lot mistakes with using it so I've had it in the blood replicator machine. By this point it should be up a couple of pints, enough for an egghead like you to start trying to isolate the magical gene for the shape shifters ability" he said snapping his fingers twice causing a portal to open.

"I might be an egghead but you wouldn't love me any other way you big brute" Daphne teased with a light hearted glare.

Harry stopped them on the portals other side, closed it with a third snap of his fingers and pushed Daphne against the wall. They weren't in an organizarion safe house or near an outpost that answered to Labyrinth so he, no they should be able to get away wih this. "Damn right I do" he said before claiming her lips in a possessive kiss. It was more than a little bit rough, not that his softest kiss was less possessive, and Daphne did give a token 'struggle' to escape before returning it wholeheartedly. "You are _my_ egghead and I do love you." This was said between panting breaths when breathing became a need, not a fancy. "Nothing will or could change the fact I love you" he swore softly.

"I know Harry." Daphne smiled softly as her eyes shone with sincerity and adoration. "I love you too and no force on this planet, not even death, can change how much I adore you or how glad I am we've been together from the very beginning," she said as his grip relaxed giving her the wiggle room to snuggle into his embrace like she belonged there. Which she did and they both knew it, it was her spot and no one eldes.

Harry was about to say something when the air around them became charged with magic. He tensed, his grip on Daphne tightening a hair, before the world around them spun to destinations unknown. What he, and no doubt she, _**did**_ know was whoever was behind his was going to _die_.

* * *

_***HOGWARTS, GREAT HALL***_

"Harry Potter! Daphne Greengrass!"

The mixed student body broke out in hushed conversation. How did the Lost Scions, what The Daily Prophet had dubbed Harry and Daphne after their disappeared nearly fifteen years ago, names come out of the Goblet of Fire? Was the Goblet bewitched and tampered with since the three competing school champions, Delacour Diggory and Krum, had been chosen already?

The enchanted ceiling darkened and rumbled as what looked like storm clouds filled it. Then, in a flash, a bolt of lightning struck the paved stone of hall sending chunks of stone flying into alarmed students.

"Who gets to die for summoning us like mongrel dogs?!"

Once the dust settled it was members of Ravenclaw House that saw the two figures first. The blonde girl had to be Daphne, she was practically a spitting image of the Greengrass matriarch. Though unlike her mother the teens hair was dye streaked with what could only be called fingers of obsidian coloring in her bangs. She was dressed in a rather sturdy looking jacket that was ripped and torn that was open revealing a slightly bloody blouse underneath, black jeans with a gaping hole in the calf area & knee laced combat boots.

The Slytherin table, who was playing host for the Durmstrang boys, saw the male first. Instead of looking like a younger James Potter, the young man who was his son had steel grey hair though they suspected the color had something to do with a glamor or magical hair dye. He was tall, taller than his companion by s head, and dressed far more intimidatingly. His jacket was ripped revealing sheets of metal in the lining suggesting the whole thing was armored for protection against physical projectiles and spells. Under the jacket they couldn't really see but the hints of a blood stain shirt suggested he was hurt in some way, his pants suggested the same thing though the half empty belt of dangerously curved knives suggested whoever hurt him was more than certainly dead.

James Potter, the current Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor for the last two years, was in shock seeing his son for the first time in over a decade. The surprised gasp of his wife Lily, the new Charms Professor, didn't escape his notice either. "Harry.."

Dumedore kept a neutral face seeing the two armed to the teeth teens glared around the hall.

"If someone doesn't tell us in three seconds why we are in this backwards ass excuse of a magical country-"

"Your names have been chosen to compete in the Goblet of Fire" Dumbledorr said.

Daphne and Harry shared a look as his hands twitched for a knife but stopped at her head shake of no. "And what if we refuse? We have killed every party of goblins you sent after us. We have carved into the flesh of the ones we sent back alive we want nothing to do with you, your slaves or this country so long as Voldemort still lives and we know he does still live" she said with a harsh glare.

"You will lose you magic and quite possibly die."

Harry let out a hiss of anger making the kids nearest to him, a bunch of red and gold trim robe wearing redheads, recoil at the threatening sound. "This is like Berlin all over again!" he grunted as his eyes flashed a dangerous shade of crimson.

Daphne sighed rubbing her temples. Smart as her boyfriend was and as much as she loved him Harry's temper was always an issue. "I know love" she dropping a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Fine, we'll play your twisted Hunger Games style tournament. But" her eyes hardened into chips of ice "when it's over we're gone. Try to stop us at your own peril because we won't blink at killing anyone who gets in our way and using your corpse as a stepping stone in our path."

Harry, seeing Daphne's hand motion, forced a couple of deep breaths before his eyes faded back to emerald. "Compete or die" he said with a barking laugh. "Are you sure that _you_ are the moral better to Voldemort and his band of raping murdering sychophants? If you ask me, this is all too convenient after the last four years."

The student bodies looked between the pair and the staff table. What did the last four years have to do with the decade plus long search for the missing teens? One red and gold trim student made the mistake of asking and found his dinner fork stabbed through the back of his hand, through his palm and _into the table_.

Harry sneered at the screaming boy as his blood decorated the table in a quickly forming puddle as the other kids tried to help their classmate. "Speak only when spoken to _runt_" he said with a fierce glare.

Daphne took Harry's hand and squeezed it hard above his wrist. "Tell us when the first bloodsport event. You'll be cleaning up bodies if my boyfriend gets anymore irritated and decides to invoke a storm god and blow this castle apart to the foundations. With students still inside" she said a no nonsense tone denoting how serious she was.

"November the twenty fourth. A task of facing the unknown."

Harry scoffed and began to pull Daphne towards the door. "Let's go start making camp in the forest. It'll be no different than that time they sent us to Prague" he said rolling his eyes at the man who spoke to them.

"There is no need for that. You are welcome to-" The rest of Dumbledore's words were cut off as a knife buried itself in the masonry two inches from being in leg, specifically the major artery running up towards the heart.

"Drop dead Gandalf. We thought four years of sending back dead bodies after dead bodies of every goblin retrieval squad you, the Potter's and Greengrasses sent after us would have gotten the message across. We don't want or need you in our lives" Daphne said looking over her shoulder with a scowl that could shame God while a twitch of Harry's finger summoned the knife back to his belt. "We lived the last thirteen years without you or them so we don't need you or them _now_. Continue to press your luck and I won't restrain my boyfriend from putting next knife through your windpipe."

While the Hogwarts kids, primarily the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, were shocked or sick at the declaration, the foreign delegates from Durmstrang and Beauxbaton's looked curious. They had heard about the so called Lost Scions due to the Hogwarts kids talking but seeing the pair intrigued them more. The Durmstrang boys noted the two moved like well trained soldiers or killers while the Beauxbaton's girls spotted right away the strong magical auras of the pair. Whatever the two had gone through, they were strong and they were extremely dangerous.

"Best magical school in Europe my ass! Best divisive school in Europe more like it!" was the last thing Harry could be heard saying as a wave of his hand blew the Great Hall doors off the arch. Well, it was more like the _hinges_ blew off the doorway arch but the wood itself just seemed to vanish into sawdust under the magical pressure.

"Well that's what centuries of marrying cousins to cousins will do. Intelligence drops into retarded single digits on the IQ scale and magical potency drops to near nonexistent levels. Why else would Britain have the highest amount of Barebloods despite their puppet Minister of Magic saying otherwise to every other magical country thar has kept up with the times on magical theory and advancements?" Daphne asked answering Harry with a rhetorical question.

All eyes in the hall turned to look at Dumbledore, the staff table and the British Ministry representatives. "What eez a 'Bareblood'?" a Beauxbaton witch asked looking confused.

"I do believe he is using the American colloquial for squib. You know, child born into a magical family but can't use magic themselves" a blonde girl with silvery blue eyes said.

The Beauxbaton witch frowned at that. "Zere eez a lot of bias and prejudice 'ere eezn't zere?" she asked already feeling like she knew the answer already.

"I am afraid so. The Slytherin's, the table where the Durnstrang boys are sitting at, are primarily Pureblood witch or wizards that can trace pure magical lineages on both their mother and father's side for a lot of generations. The lowest I heard in boast was fifteen generations of purely magical heritage. The government here is practically ruled by Purebloods like them who are the cause for laws who block muggleborn witch or wizards from getting jobs in certain lines of work because they are not members of nobility. The Purebloods are the cause for so much of the anti-creature legislation that, just to give you an example, they passed a law recently mandating all werewolves MUST register and have a permanent tracking spell put on them to be monitored at all times all under the guise of 'public safety'" the blonde Ravenclaw answered nodding. "In _theory_, it is a good idea. Knowing who is afflicted with the werewolf curse can keep the public at large safe during the full moon but the wording of the law treats the afflicted like rabid animals to be put down. Combine that with laws already in place for decades stripping creatures of all but the right to be born or even further saying they basically can't work a job around the unafflicted… I think you can get the point."

The Beauxbaton witches looked horrified at what they heard.

Dumbledore grimaced deeply as he motioned the Ministry representatives towards the antechamber where Krum, Diggory and Delacour were waiting.

Outside the castle Harry and Daphne strolled toward the forest hand-in-hand. "Harry, a thought hit me" Daphne said breaking the quiet between them. "What are the odds _we_ are cousins? This countries magical population interbred and inbred itself so much.."

Harry silenced Daphne with a kiss. "Daffy, I wouldn't care if we somehow were. I love you. I love everything about you. Besides" he tapped her cheek in a calming manner as they passed the treeline into the forest "we aren't cousins remember? Not really remember. The Dwarves confirmed that when opened the bank account with them and converted half our mundane money to magical. The _only ancestor_ we have in common is the long ago sister in-law to Johanus Potter." Grasping her face in his hands gently he rested his forehead against hers so their eyes met. "Your ancestor Layla Greengrass was _**adopted**_ as a Greengrass when she was a child and Johanus Potter's bloodline died out four centuries ago. There is no blood between us and it would not matter if there was. The real danger of inbreeding is how close the generations so if we ever have kids there is such a tiny chance of there being problems it's practically _**zero**_. Stop worrying ok? Breathe and relax" he said with a calming tone.

Daphne took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Sorry, you're right. I'm overthinking it again" she said flushing a little in embarrassment.

"It's fine _egghead_, you wouldn't be the woman I love if you didn't overthink everything" Harry said with a challenging smirk and pinch to Daphne's cheek before bolting further into the trees. The roar he got for it made him laugh since it had done the job it needed to, get her mind off the worry. "Catch me if you can!"

From the shadow of a tree a centaur watched the couple chase each other til they found a clearing and began to set up a camp. They could be questioned later about their intrusion later, for now he would observe and try to discern it from their actions.

* * *

_***DUMBLEDORE'S OFFICE LATER THAT NIGHT***_

"It's worse than we thought.".

"Harry destroyed the nerve in Ronald's hand. Poppy said it was completely rotted with what looked like Necromantic magic and can't be repaired by conventional magic. He'll be lucky to hold his wand and cast properly ever again in his other hand!"

"They need to be brought to a Mind Healer at St. Mungos! They've been brainwashed to be like...like that!"

"Enough!" Dumbledored bellowed silencing the veins of conversation. "I told you that involving the Goblin Nation was our best shot at tracking them but hiring so many to try capturing then fruitlessly has blown up in our faces." He turned his gaze over the two couples who looked grim faced. "Who put their names in the Goblet?"

No one answered for a long moment until Hellen glared fiercely. "Why are you accusing us? Do you honestly think we would wish our children _dead_ when we spent over a decade searching for them? Don't be ridiculous!" she snapped.

"Oh just come out and say it Albus, we all know it was you."

The two couples glared harshly as a former Headmasters painting said that. "What did you say Headmaster Black? I don't think I heard you right" Lily said icily.

"Oh yes, it was Albua who dictated the names to a Dictation Quill and then confounded the Goblet in the dead of night to allow a 'fourth school' with two champions. He was mumbling to himself how it was 'For The Greater Good Harry be returned to end the threat of a man named Riddle since young Neville is too wea-"

The four adults had their wands trained on Dumbledore with acid green spells lighting up the tips as the former Headmasters portrait was frozen. "You condemned our children to fight for their lives in a tournament that killed witches and wizards decades older than they are?!" Cyrus demanded visibly shaking in rage.

James smirked coldly as he shot a look to his wife and their friends. "Of course he did. The prophecy that was allegedly about my son can't be fulfilled if he isn't here _right Albus?_"" he asked contemptuously. "We have to find them. Let's leave this _**Dark Lord**_ to rot. The public will be calling for his head soon enough."

"How do you figure James?" Hellen asked as her grip tightened on her wand.

"We go to the ICW and inform them that their Supreme Mugwump has deliberately entered minor children in a death tournament so my son who he claims the prophecy is about is forcefully dragged back to England to fulfill it before we oust this to the Minister as well as Amelia." James saw Lily, Cyrus and Hellen think it over before smirking as coldly as he was. "He'll be lucky if his wand isn't snapped, his core bound and tossed in the deepest darkest cell in Azkaban for the remainder of his pitifully short life."

Before Dumbedore could say anything in defense of himself they were gone.


End file.
